Charging laptop for the first time

So I'll soon be getting my laptop and I want to make sure I'll do this right. I intend to charge the battery overnight for about 12 hours (not booting up the laptop or doing anything on it at that time). Then install Windows and all that stuff, then wear the battery down and charge it again fully. I intend to do this at least once a month. Is this right? Please if you have any more tips for me share them

 

I wouldn't wear it down to zero, go to like, 10% and then charge it. Wearing it all the way down to the automatic shutoff can reduce the health of the battery.

 

modern battery needs no special TLC. My two batteries both 4+ years are still retaining 60% of their live.

 

The way I treat batteries hasn't changed for about 20 yrs or so:

Charge at the slowest rate possible (this means leaving the system on, usually).

Keep charging (or plugged in) for at least two hours after the indicator says 'fully charged' or until the battery pack is cool to the touch (the longer, the better).

Only/mostly charge a notebook while on a notebook cooler to keep the temperature as cool as possible.

Never leave the system plugged in/charging for more than 16 hrs - ever.

Use the battery until it is at ~5% charge - then charge within 2 or three hours but not before 1 hour of it reaching that discharged state (assuming a healthy battery - if the battery charge goes from 5% to zero in 5 minutes (for eg.) then leaving it for an hour or more will simply kill it dead.

If I will not use the system for 4-5 hrs or more, I will shut it down at around 10-12% instead of wearing it down totally. Then, it will be plugged in to charge only while I am using it the next day (or, be left charging while on...).

The goal is to use the charge cycles as little as possible while charging/using the system at the lowest temperature possible.

With this method (which is second nature to me by now) I am getting amazing battery life from my U30Jc Intel SSD powered system:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7766632-post2079.html


Hope some of this helped.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the great input.
So if I am at school, should I let it run on the battery instead of plugging it in an outlet every class?

 

I leave mine plugged in perpetually when at the desk, whether on or off, because I rarely know when I'm going to need to pick up and move. Batteries aren't terribly expensive, and I rarely consider replacing before 3-4 years, at which point there's a good chance I've already sold the laptop.

 

You don't need TLC for the battery, use in whatever way you want.

In general, have it plugged in when convenient as battery charge cycle is based on actual charging. So if you are not drawing down the battery, you don't actually use its life.

But left me stress, use it in the way you find fit, don't be a slave to your battery(or SSD or anything). You buy a computer to help you, it is not your son. None of my computer's battery(those in active use thus have their chance of recharge) dies (one is 10 year+, 2 are almost 5 years). The ones that die completely are those I have not been used for serveral years.

 

Sounds a bit weird to constantly use up the battery and then recharge it, I'm pretty sure that the battery feels better at around 40ish%, and that's also what you want it at if you are not going to use it for a longer period of time (& store it cold).

But you are right about the temperature, excessive heat is death for battery life.

 

If this was my only system, it would be weird to constantly use up the battery and then recharge it...

But, as I stated (maybe later?) in the link I provided, this is not my only system and therefore I can usually make the battery last for up to 4 days with my method.

Even if it was my only system, I would still be charging it only every second day on avg. - that is because I would simply leave it plugged in for up to 16 hrs (while on and 'in use').

 

Totally agree. There are things I want to take my time with and treat them with kid gloves, but a battery is not one of them. That doesn't mean I would leave it in the car in the sun all day.

But I simple won't go out of my way just to squeeze out an extra 5 minutes of use. I will however, observer the basics in battery care. But when it goes, it goes.